Discrete, depleting chips for obtaining desired service level characteristics

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides discrete, depleting chips for allocating computational resources for obtaining desired service level characteristics, wherein discrete chips deplete from a maximum allocated amount but may, in an optional implementation, be allowed to be replenished through the purchase of additional chips. A number of chips are assigned to a requestor/party, known as a business unit (BU), which could be a department, or group providing like-functionality services. In one implementation, the chips themselves could represent base monetary units integrated over time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related in some aspects to commonly owned patentapplication number (to be provided), entitled “RESOURCE MANAGEMENTFRAMEWORK”, assigned attorney docket number END920060217US1, filedconcurrently herewith, the entire contents of which are hereinincorporated by reference.

This application is related in some aspects to commonly owned patentapplication number (to be provided), entitled “METHOD, SYSTEM, ANDPROGRAM PRODUCT FOR SELECTING A BROKERING METHOD FOR OBTAINING DESIREDSERVICE LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS”, assigned attorney docket numberEND920060218US1, filed concurrently herewith, the entire contents ofwhich are herein incorporated by reference.

This application is related in some aspects to commonly owned patentapplication number (to be provided), entitled “NON-DEPLETING CHIPS FOROBTAINING DESIRED SERVICE LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS”, assigned attorneydocket number END920060219US1, filed concurrently herewith, the entirecontents of which are herein incorporated by reference.

This application is related in some aspects to commonly owned patentapplication number (to be provided), entitled “FLUID, DEPLETING CHIPSFOR OBTAINING DESIRED SERVICE LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS”, assigned attorneydocket number END920060221 US1, filed concurrently herewith, the entirecontents of which are herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the brokering of biddableresources (e.g., computational resources). Specifically, the presentinvention addresses the need for using discrete, depleting chips forobtaining desired service level characteristics.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Businesses are experiencing an ever-increasing trend to achieve higherutilization of computing resources. Companies that provide their own ITcomputing services are being driven to find ways to decrease costs byincreasing utilization. Moreover, companies that provide these servicesare being driven to reduce overhead and become more competitive byincreasing utilization of these resources. Numerous studies over thepast decade have shown that typical utilization levels of computingresources within service delivery centers, raised floors, and datacenters fall between 20% and 80%. This leaves a tremendous amount ofwhite space with which to improve utilization and drive costs down.

These issues are compounded by the fact that, in many instances,multiple parties compete for common resources. Such competition canoccur both on an inter-organization level as well as on anintra-organization level (e.g., between business units). To this extent,none of the existing approaches address how much resources a particularparty is allowed to consume. That is, none of the existing approachesprovide a way to adequately ration a party the computational resourcesin a way that will fulfill its needs, while not preventing the needs ofother parties' from being met. Accordingly, there exists a need in theart to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The application of the present invention generally provides details onthe nature of discrete, depleting chips, wherein discrete chips depletefrom a maximum allocated amount but may, in an optional implementation,be allowed to be replenished through the purchase of additional chips. Anumber of chips are assigned to a requestor/party, such as a businessunit (BU), which could be a department, or group providinglike-functionality services. In one implementation, the chips themselvescould represent base monetary units integrated over time.

In this concept, the number of chips is depleted over some period oftime, which helps to balance the requestor's relationship with theresource unit broker. That is, when a party bids a certain amount ofchips for a computational resource, and that party's bid is accepted,its total quantity of chips will be debited by the amount of chips bid.Using a chip maximum over a finite duration, e.g. 10,000 chips over onemonth, implies that the requestor has until the end of the period oftime to utilize all of its chips to attempt to win bids for elementalbidding resources (EBRs). Again, the requestor may optionally be allowedto acquire additional chips if it depletes it's supply prior to the endof the allocation period. The method of acquiring new chips would dependon existing business policies or practices, and is not the focus of thisapplication. This chip management mechanism would be leveraged inconjunction with the concepts and algorithms provided in otherapplications, for the purposes of brokering an exchange of chips forEBRs during periods of high resource demand.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a method for allocatinga supply of discrete, depleting chips for obtaining desired servicelevel characteristics, comprising: allocating a party a fixed quantityof chips for bidding on a computational resource; receiving a bid forthe computational resource using an amount of the fixed quantity ofchips pursuant to a discrete event for the computational resource; anddebiting the fixed quantity of chips by the amount in response to theparty being awarded the computational resource.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a system forallocating a supply of discrete, depleting chips for obtaining desiredservice level characteristics, comprising: a system for allocating aparty a fixed quantity of chips for bidding on a computational resource;a system for receiving a bid for the computational resource using anamount of the fixed quantity of chips pursuant to a discrete event forthe computational resource; and a system for debiting the fixed quantityof chips by the amount in response to the party being awarded thecomputational resource.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a program productstored on a computer readable medium for allocating a supply ofdiscrete, depleting chips for obtaining desired service levelcharacteristics, the computer readable medium comprising program codefor causing a computer system to: allocate a party a fixed quantity ofchips for bidding on a computational resource; receive a bid for thecomputational resource using an amount of the fixed quantity of chipspursuant to a discrete event for the computational resource; and debitthe fixed quantity of chips by the amount in response to the party beingawarded the computational resource.

A fourth aspect of the present invention provides a method for deployinga system for allocating a supply of discrete, depleting chips forobtaining desired service level characteristics, comprising: providing acomputer infrastructure being operable to: allocate a party a fixedquantity of chips for bidding on a computational resource; receive a bidfor the computational resource using an amount of the fixed quantity ofchips pursuant to a discrete event for the computational resource; anddebit the fixed quantity of chips by the amount in response to the partybeing awarded the computational resource.

A fifth aspect of the present invention provides computer softwareembodied in a propagated signal for allocating a supply of discrete,depleting chips for obtaining desired service level characteristics, thecomputer software comprising instructions for causing a computer systemto: allocate a party a fixed quantity of chips for bidding on acomputational resource; receive a bid for the computational resourceusing an amount of the fixed quantity of chips pursuant to a discreteevent for the computational resource; and debit the fixed quantity ofchips by the amount in response to the party being awarded thecomputational resource.

A sixth aspect of the present invention provides a data processingsystem for allocating a supply of discrete, depleting chips forobtaining desired service level characteristics, comprising: a memorymedium; a bus coupled to the memory medium; and a processing unitcoupled to the bus, the memory medium comprising program code, whichwhen executed by the processing unit, causes the data processing systemto: allocate a party a fixed quantity of chips for bidding on acomputational resource; receive a bid for the computational resourceusing an amount of the fixed quantity of chips pursuant to a discreteevent for the computational resource; and debit the fixed quantity ofchips by the amount in response to the party being awarded thecomputational resource.

For each of these aspects, the following additional features/functionscan be provided: the party can be a business unit or the like; the bidcan be received pursuant to a scheduled auction for the computationalresource; the bid can be one of a plurality of bids received pursuant tothe scheduled auction for the computational resource; the fixed quantityof chips can be allocated pursuant to a business transaction such as afinancial transaction; the bid can be received by a resource unit brokerfrom an agent acting on behalf of the party; the resource unit brokercan select from a plurality of available algorithms for identifying awinner of the computational resource, and/or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of this invention will be more readilyunderstood from the following detailed description of the variousaspects of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative resource management framework according tothe present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative graph of an allocation cycle according tothe present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative graph of a ratio of resource allocationaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative graph of a harvested capacity allocationaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a more detailed computerized implementation of the presentinvention.

The drawings are not necessarily to scale. The drawings are merelyschematic representations, not intended to portray specific parametersof the invention. The drawings are intended to depict only typicalembodiments of the invention, and therefore should not be considered aslimiting the scope of the invention. In the drawings, like numberingrepresents like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

For convenience purposes, the Detailed Description of the Invention hasthe following sections:

I. General Description

II. Computerized Implementation

I. General Description

As used herein, the following terms have the following definitions:

“Chip” means any unit (virtual or otherwise) that may be exchanged forresources such as IT resources.

“Party” means any individual, group of individuals, department, businessunit, cell of a component business model, etc.

“Discrete Event” means a scheduled event such as an auction.

“Fluid Event” means any non-scheduled event such as a random purchase.

“Service Level Characteristic” means any type of computer or ITrequirement needed by the business, including any non-functionalrequirements that specify criteria that can be used to judge theoperation of a system, rather than specific behaviors.

“Elemental Bidding Resource (EBR)” means any computational resource(e.g., memory, processing cycles, etc.) sought by a party to accomplishobjectives.

As indicated above, the present invention provides details on the natureof discrete, depleting chips, wherein discrete chips deplete from amaximum allocated amount but may, in an optional implementation, beallowed to be replenished through the purchase of additional chips. Anumber of chips are assigned to a requestor/party, known as a businessunit (BU), which could be a department, or group providinglike-functionality services. In one implementation, the chips themselvescould represent base monetary units integrated over time.

In this concept, the number of chips is depleted over some period oftime, which helps to balance the requestor's relationship with theresource unit broker. That is, when a party bids a certain amount ofchips for a computational resource, and that party's bid is accepted,its total quantity of chips will be debited by the amount of chips bid.Using a chip maximum over a finite duration, e.g. 10,000 chips over onemonth, implies that the requestor has until the end of the period oftime to utilize all of its chips to attempt to win bids for elementalbiddable resources (EBR). Again, the requestor may optionally be allowedto acquire additional chips if it depletes it's supply prior to the endof the allocation period. The method of acquiring new chips would dependon existing business policies or practices, and is not the focus of thisapplication. This chip management mechanism would be leveraged inconjunction with the concepts and algorithms provided in otherapplications, for the purposes of brokering an exchange of chips forEBRs for periods of high resource demand.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a resource management framework (hereinafterframework 10) is depicted as described in attorney docket numberEND920060217US1, which was cross-referenced and incorporated above. Asshown, framework 10 is generally comprised of business units 12A-N,buyer's agents 14A-N, resource unit capacity planner 16, resourceallocation software 18, optional resource unit change and configurationmanager 20, and resource unit broker 28. These components typicallyleverage additional assets such as chip usage trending 21A-N, requestorchip pool 22A-N, and service level and infrastructure category baseline24.

An objective of this framework is to reach a means of maximizingutilization of IT Resources among competing consumers such as businessunits 12A-B by distribution of the decision making/allocation processaccording to relative needs of applications. Doing so eliminates theneed for traditional SLAs, and allows each business unit to make dynamic“free market” decisions as to how best to obtain the service levelsrequired from a highly-commoditized IT service provider.

To this end, business units 12A-N relay their priorities and computingneeds to the buyer's agents 14A-N. Buyer's agents 14A-N then determinewhether to engage in cooperative or competitive negotiations andimplement a request for an EBR on the business units' 12A-N behalf.Various methods can be employed by the resource unit broker 28 tofulfill requests for resources to consumers or business units 12A-N. Onemethod is using non-depleting chips (as further described in attorneydocket number END920060219US1, which was cross-referenced andincorporated above), and yet another involves the use of fluid chips (asfurther described in attorney docket number END920060221 US1, which wascross-referenced and incorporated above). Another method is describedherein and involves using depleting chips for static or discrete events.Regardless, the buyers' agents 14A-N understand the thresholds businessunits 14A-N are willing to pay, their associated targets for variousservice level characteristics, and will programmatically employ the mostadvantageous bidding strategy.

The resource unit capacity planner 16 reports to resource unit brokers28 (i.e., auctioneers) what resources are available (e.g.,infrastructure components) at any given time. Resource allocationsoftware 18 includes products such as Enterprise Workload manager(EWLM), WebSphere XD, and Partition Load Manager (EWLM, EnterpriseWorkload Manager, WebSphere XD, and Partition Load Manage are trademarksof IBM Corp. in the United States and/or other countries). Thegoal-oriented policies within these products are updated by inputs fromthe resource unit broker 28 and/or resource unit broker capacity 16.Change management may be all self-contained in resource allocationsoftware 18, or there may be cases where additional change control needsto be performed. This functionality is provided herein by optionalresource unit change and configuration manager 20.

As indicated above, the present invention involves the management and/orallocation of discrete, depleting chips to parties such as businessunits 12A-N. That is, business units 12A-N will be allocated acertain/fixed quantity of chips pursuant to a business transaction(e.g., a financial transaction). Those chips can then be used forbidding in an attempt to be allocated computational resources. Under anembodiment of the present invention, the chips are considered discretebecause they are intended to be used in a scheduled event such as ascheduled auction. In this regard, auction winners are granted resourcesfor known periods of time, and can thus base future decisions on theknowledge that they are ensured the desired resources for the durationof the allocation cycle.

Consider, for the sake of simplicity, the case where only two businessunits are competing for IT resources. These business units will be knownsimply as BU1 and BU2, and each is represented by its own respectiveagent software. In the discrete chip model, again, periodic auctions areheld, and winners determined for the duration of the allocation cycle,such that resources are distributed accordingly. Specifically, agents14A-N will submit bids on behalf of business units 12A-N. Each bid isfor an amount (e.g., one or more) of chips that were allocated tobusiness units 12A-N. It should be noted that each business unit 12A-Nis not necessarily allocated the same amount of chips. For example,business unit “A” may be able to purchase more chips than business unit“B”. In any event, resource unit broker 28 will act as an auctioneer anddetermine a winner. As part of its role, resource unit broker 28 willcommunicate with resource unit capacity planner 16 and resourceallocation software 18 as outlined above.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an illustrative graph of an allocation cycle isshown. In this example, for instance, BU1 is the high bidder forresources at time t1. In a fluid event scenario (e.g., an un-scheduledauction) case, this would not guarantee BU1 use of the “won” resource(s)for any particular period of time, but in this discrete chip case, atime guarantee equating to the “allocation cycle” is given. Thus,depending on the allocation strategy, BU1 may have a complete monopolyover the resource(s), or such resources may be shared with BU1 receivingthe majority.

It should be noted that the time scale shown in FIG. 2 is not meant tobe specific, but rather indicative of a short/long dichotomy between thebid cycle and the overall allocation cycle. Furthermore, in this case,BU1's (and/or BU2's) expenditure of chips equates to a series ofdiscontinuous expenses equating to the amount bid at the end of eachrespective bid cycle. Note that again, whether or not BU2 is charged forits “losing” bid depends on the various allocation strategies. In someeventualities, it may be charged and in others, not.

Note that for all chip management systems, including this one,cooperative behavior may optionally first be tried before biddingcompetition ensues. Note furthermore that three allocation strategiesfollow, and in fact influence, the bidding process. Any of thesestrategies may be implemented, according to the behavior that is deemedoptimal for the adopting organization.

These strategies are as follows:

“Winner Take All” Allocation: In this approach, the business unit withthe highest bid is allocated all requested IT resources. No otherbusiness units receive IT resources (EBRs), until the next winner isdetermined at the end of the next bid cycle. With the discrete,depleting chip approach outlined herein, this has the practical effectof determining whichever business unit wins a particular bid cycle willreceive full use of the IT resource under bid for the duration of thesubsequent allocation cycle. Such a resource (the EBR) could be a givenmachine, a given number of processors, memory, input/output capability,or any other such elemental bidding resource. It should be noted, ofcourse, that within any given closed system of Business Units, early“wins” of resources within a distribution cycle indicate greaterexpenditures of chips. Thus, all things being equal, such BUs may havefewer chips with which to compete later in the distribution cycle. Forexample, heavy bids in a month-long chip distribution cycle may hinderthe ability of the BU to compete for resources late in the month.

“Ratio of Resources” Allocation: In this approach, the requestedresources are allocated for the full allocation cycle according to aratio of bids between competing business units. An example of this isshown in FIG. 3 where two competing BUs are bidding on a resource, andthe ratio of relative bids at the end of the bid cycle is 2/1 betweenBusiness Unit 2 and Business Unit 1, respectively. In this case, BU2gets 66.7% of the requested resource, and BU1 gets 33.3% of therequested resource. From FIG. 3, it can be observed that the competingbusiness units each get their own share of the overall capacity,regardless of their moment-by-moment computing needs. In thisillustrated case, BU1s application runs into a CPU constraint for partof the allocation cycle, as noted by the time during which it isutilizing its share of the capacity at 100%.

“Harvested Capacity (HC)” Allocation: This approach is generally shownin FIG. 4 and has some similarities with the “winner take all” approach;in that the BU placing the highest bid at any given time gets all thecapacity it needs for the duration in which its bid is the highest.However, in the harvested capacity approach, any remaining resourcesafter the winner takes what it needs are available and may be “skimmed”for use by other BUs. In this discrete, depleting chip scenario, thedifferentiation between the “ratio of resources” approach and “harvestedcapacity” may be viewed through a graphical comparison with the aboveapproach. In the HO approach, BU1's processor resource constraint iseased by permitting BU1 to obtain more than 33.3% of the resources, butonly if (as in this case) BU2 is not currently constrained. Thedown-side to harvested capacity, however, is that more overheadcomputations may be required to continually calculate the resourceavailability, and a slight hysteresis may exist wherein the decision toallow BU1 (the bid loser) to take resources at the next incrementalmoment is based upon BU2's (the bid winner) needs from the just-pastincremental moment.

Therefore, the specification and quantification of these discrete,depleting chips may occur through a number of methods, but their measurein use by the system may be thought of as a series of discreteexpenditures, in which either the winning bidder only is charged or eachBU (winning or losing) is charged, depending on the allocation strategypursued. As mentioned for other chip strategies (e.g., as incorporatedby reference), several fundamental implementation options exist forpractical use of this system. In one case, a business unit within anorganization may receive through executive sponsor a specified amount ofchips for a given period of time, and that is all the chips it receivesuntil the next replenishment date. In another case, a business unit mayreceive through executive sponsor a specified amount of chips for agiven period of time, and then additional chips may be purchased throughdiscretionary expenditures authorized by the business unit. In a thirdoption, the chips may be equated to simple fiscal terms, and the freemarket will determine the relative “wealth” of competing business units.This last approach would generally be best suited for true competitivesituations, in which the BU's are not necessarily part of the samebroader organization with shared goals.

II. Computerized Implementation

Referring now to FIG. 5, a more detailed diagram of a computerizedimplementation 100 of the present invention is shown. As depicted,implementation 100 includes resource unit broker 28 deployed within acomputer infrastructure 102. This is intended to demonstrate, amongother things, that the present invention could be implemented within anetwork environment (e.g., the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), alocal area network (LAN), a virtual private network (VPN), etc.), or ona stand-alone computer system. In the case of the former, communicationthroughout the network can occur via any combination of various types ofcommunications links. For example, the communication links can compriseaddressable connections that may utilize any combination of wired and/orwireless transmission methods. Where communications occur via theInternet, connectivity could be provided by conventional TCP/IPsockets-based protocol, and an Internet service provider could be usedto establish connectivity to the Internet. Still yet, computerinfrastructure 102 is intended to demonstrate that some or all of thecomponents of implementation 100 could be deployed, managed, serviced,etc. by a service provider who offers to implement, deploy, and/orperform the functions of the present invention for others.

As shown, resource unit broker 28 includes a processing unit 106, amemory 108, a bus 110, and input/output (I/O) interfaces 112. Further,resource unit broker 28 is shown in communication with external I/Odevices/resources 114 and storage system 116. In general, processingunit 106 executes computer program code, such as brokering program 118,which is stored in memory 108 and/or storage system 116. While executingcomputer program code, processing unit 106 can read and/or write datato/from memory 108, storage system 116, and/or I/O interfaces 112. Bus110 provides a communication link between each of the components inresource unit broker 28. External devices 114 can comprise any devices(e.g., keyboard, pointing device, display, etc.) that enable a user tointeract with resource unit broker 28 and/or any devices (e.g., networkcard, modem, etc.) that enable resource unit broker 28 to communicatewith one or more other computing devices.

Computer infrastructure 102 is only illustrative of various types ofcomputer infrastructures for implementing the invention. For example, inone embodiment, computer infrastructure 102 comprises two or morecomputing devices (e.g., a server cluster) that communicate over anetwork to perform the process(es) of the invention. Moreover, resourceunit broker 28 is only representative of various possible computersystems that can include numerous combinations of hardware. To thisextent, in other embodiments, resource unit broker 28 can comprise anyspecific purpose computing article of manufacture comprising hardwareand/or computer program code for performing specific functions, anycomputing article of manufacture that comprises a combination ofspecific purpose and general purpose hardware/software, or the like. Ineach case, the program code and hardware can be created using standardprogramming and engineering techniques, respectively. Moreover,processing unit 106 may comprise a single processing unit, or bedistributed across one or more processing units in one or morelocations, e.g., on a client and server. Similarly, memory 108 and/orstorage system 116 can comprise any combination of various types of datastorage and/or transmission media that reside at one or more physicallocations. Further, I/O interfaces 112 can comprise any system forexchanging information with one or more external device 114. Stillfurther, it is understood that one or more additional components (e.g.,system software, math co-processing unit, etc.) not shown in FIG. 5 canbe included in resource unit broker 28. However, if resource unit broker28 comprises a handheld device or the like, it is understood that one ormore external devices 114 (e.g., a display) and/or storage system 116could be contained within resource unit broker 28, not externally asshown.

Storage system 116 can be any type of system (e.g., a database) capableof providing storage for information under the present invention. Tothis extent, storage system 116 could include one or more storagedevices, such as a magnetic disk drive or an optical disk drive. Inanother embodiment, storage system 116 includes data distributed across,for example, a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or astorage area network (SAN) (not shown). In addition, although not shown,additional components, such as cache memory, communication systems,system software, etc., may be incorporated into resource unit broker 28.It should be understood that resource unit capacity planner 16, resourceallocation software 18, and change and configuration manager 20 have notbeen shown in FIG. 5 for clarity purposes.

Shown in memory 108 of resource unit broker 28 is brokering program 118,which facilitates the functions of resource unit broker 28 as describedherein. It should be understood that brokering program 118 can includeany of the subsystems shown in the above-incorporated applications.Those shown in FIG. 5 have been depicted to illustrate the corefunctions of the discrete, depleting chip model of the presentinvention. As depicted, brokering program 118 includes allocation system120, discrete event system 122, request system 124, auction system 126,and chip management system 128. It should be understood that thisconfiguration of functionality is intended to be illustrative only, andthat identical or similar functionality could be provided with adifferent configuration of systems.

In any event, brokering program 118 facilitates the functions asdescribed herein. Specifically, allocation system 120 is configured toallocate a party a fixed quantity of chips for bidding on acomputational resource. This can incorporate details of a businesstransaction between the party and a chip source such as a financialexchange for a fixed quantity of chips. Discrete event system 122 isconfigured to schedule events such as auctions for computationalresources, and can be used in conjunction with any calendar/emailapplication (e.g., Lotus Notes; Lotus, Notes, and Lotus Notes aretrademarks of IBM Corp. in the United States and/or other countries) tomanage invites and responses, and maintain a calendar of events. Requestsystem 124 is configured to receive and manage bids (from agents onbehalf of the parties) for computational resources. As mentioned above,the bids will comprise an amount of the fixed quantity of chipsallocated to a party. Auction system 126 will keep track of the bids(and counter bids) and determine a winner of the auction. It can do sousing any of the above-referenced (and/or incorporated) strategies andassociated algorithms. Chip management system 128 is configured tomanage the quantity of chips allocated to the parties, includingdebiting the fixed quantity of chips allocated to a party by the amountbid by that party in response to the party being awarded thecomputational resource.

For example, in one embodiment, the invention provides acomputer-readable/useable medium that includes computer program code toenable a computer infrastructure to allocate resources using depletingchips. To this extent, the computer-readable/useable medium includesprogram code that implements the process(es) of the invention. It isunderstood that the terms computer-readable medium or computer useablemedium comprises one or more of any type of physical embodiment of theprogram code. In particular, the computer-readable/useable medium cancomprise program code embodied on one or more portable storage articlesof manufacture (e.g., a compact disc, a magnetic disk, a tape, etc.), onone or more data storage portions of a computing device, such as memory108 (FIG. 5) and/or storage system 116 (FIG. 5) (e.g., a fixed disk, aread-only memory, a random access memory, a cache memory, etc.), and/oras a data signal (e.g., a propagated signal) traveling over a network(e.g., during a wired/wireless electronic distribution of the programcode).

In another embodiment, the invention provides a business method thatperforms the process of the invention on a subscription, advertising,and/or fee basis. That is, a service provider, such as a SolutionIntegrator, could offer to allocate resources based on non-depletingchips. In this case, the service provider can create, maintain, support,etc., a computer infrastructure, such as computer infrastructure 102(FIG. 5) that performs the process of the invention for one or morecustomers. In return, the service provider can receive payment from thecustomer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or the serviceprovider can receive payment from the sale of advertising content to oneor more third parties.

In still another embodiment, the invention provides acomputer-implemented method for allocating resources based on depletingchips. In this case, a computer infrastructure, such as computerinfrastructure 102 (FIG. 5), can be provided and one or more systems forperforming the process of the invention can be obtained (e.g., created,purchased, used, modified, etc.) and deployed to the computerinfrastructure. To this extent, the deployment of a system can compriseone or more of: (1) installing program code on a computing device, suchas resource unit broker 28 (FIG. 5), from a computer-readable medium;(2) adding one or more computing devices to the computer infrastructure;and (3) incorporating and/or modifying one or more existing systems ofthe computer infrastructure to enable the computer infrastructure toperform the process of the invention.

As used herein, it is understood that the terms “program code” and“computer program code” are synonymous and mean any expression, in anylanguage, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause acomputing device having an information processing capability to performa particular function either directly or after either or both of thefollowing: (a) conversion to another language, code or notation; and/or(b) reproduction in a different material form. To this extent, programcode can be embodied as one or more of: an application/software program,component software/a library of functions, an operating system, a basicI/O system/driver for a particular computing and/or I/O device, and thelike.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode can be provided hereunder and can include at least one processorcommunicatively coupled, directly or indirectly, to memory element(s)through a system bus. The memory elements can include, but are notlimited to, local memory employed during actual execution of the programcode, bulk storage, and cache memories that provide temporary storage ofat least some program code in order to reduce the number of times codemust be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output orI/O devices (including, but not limited to, keyboards, displays,pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly orthrough intervening I/O controllers.

Network adapters also may be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems,remote printers, storage devices, and/or the like, through anycombination of intervening private or public networks. Illustrativenetwork adapters include, but are not limited to, modems, cable modemsand Ethernet cards.

The foregoing description of various aspects of the invention has beenpresented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed, and obviously, many modifications and variations arepossible. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to aperson skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scopeof the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.

We claim:
 1. A method for allocating a supply of discrete, depletingchips for obtaining desired service level characteristics, comprising:allocating a party a fixed quantity of chips for bidding on acomputational resource; receiving a first bid for the computationalresource using an amount of the fixed quantity of chips pursuant to adiscrete event for the computational resource and receiving a second bidusing an amount of the different quantity of chips pursuant to thediscrete event, the first and second bids being received by a resourceunit broker; wherein the first bid is received from a first agentrepresenting the first party and the second bid is received from asecond agent representing the second party, wherein the first and secondagent engage in cooperative or competitive negotiations on behalf of thefirst and second party; and debiting the fixed quantity of chips by theamount in response to the party being awarded the computationalresource.
 2. The method of claim 1, the discrete event being a scheduledauction for the computational resource.
 3. The method of claim 2, thebid being one of a plurality of bids received pursuant to the scheduledauction for the computational resource.
 4. The method of claim 1, theallocating comprising allocating the party the fixed quantity of chipspursuant to a business transaction.
 5. The method of claim 4, thebusiness transaction being a financial transaction.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, the party being a business unit.
 7. The method of claim 1, thebid being received by a resource unit broker from an agent acting onbehalf of the party.
 8. The method of claim 7, the resource unit brokerselecting one of a plurality of available algorithms for identifying awinner of the computational resource.
 9. A system for allocating asupply of discrete, depleting chips for obtaining desired service levelcharacteristics, comprising: a set of computer devices having at leastone computer device, the set of computer devices performing a method,including: allocating a party a fixed quantity of chips for bidding on acomputational resource; first bid for the computational resource usingan amount of the fixed quantity of chips pursuant to a discrete eventfor the computational resource and receiving a second bid using anamount of the different quantity of chips pursuant to the discreteevent, the first and second bids being received by a resource unitbroker; wherein the first bid is received from a first agentrepresenting the first party and the second bid is received from asecond agent representing the second party, wherein the first and secondagent engage in cooperative or competitive negotiations on behalf of thefirst and second party; and debiting the fixed quantity of chips by theamount in response to the party being awarded the computationalresource.
 10. The system of claim 9, the discrete event being ascheduled auction for the computational resource.
 11. The system ofclaim 10, the bid being one of a plurality of bids received pursuant tothe scheduled auction for the computational resource.
 12. The system ofclaim 9, the fixed quantity of chips being allocated pursuant to abusiness transaction.
 13. The system of claim 12, the businesstransaction being a financial transaction.
 14. The system of claim 9,the party being a business unit.
 15. The system of claim 9, the bidbeing received by a resource unit broker from an agent acting on behalfof the party.
 16. The system of claim 15, the resource unit brokerselecting one of a plurality of available algorithms for identifying awinner of the computational resource.
 17. A program product stored on acomputer readable storage medium for allocating a supply of discrete,depleting chips for obtaining desired service level characteristics, thecomputer readable storage medium comprising program code for causing acomputer system to: allocate a party a fixed quantity of chips forbidding on a computational resource; receive a first bid for thecomputational resource using an amount of the fixed quantity of chipspursuant to a discrete event for the computational resource andreceiving a second bid using an amount of the different quantity ofchips pursuant to the discrete event, the first and second bids beingreceived by a resource unit broker; wherein the first bid is receivedfrom a first agent representing the first party and the second bid isreceived from a second agent representing the second party, wherein thefirst and second agent engage in cooperative or competitive negotiationson behalf of the first and second party; and debit the fixed quantity ofchips by the amount in response to the party being awarded thecomputational resource.
 18. The program product of claim 17, thediscrete event being a scheduled auction for the computational resource.19. The program product of claim 18, the bid being one of a plurality ofbids received pursuant to the scheduled auction for the computationalresource.
 20. The program product of claim 17, the fixed quantity ofchips being allocated pursuant to a business transaction.
 21. Theprogram product of claim 20, the business transaction being a financialtransaction.
 22. The program product of claim 17, the party being abusiness unit.
 23. The program product of claim 17, the bid beingreceived by a resource unit broker from an agent acting on behalf of theparty.
 24. The program product of claim 23, the resource unit brokerselecting one of a plurality of available algorithms for identifying awinner of the computational resource.
 25. A method for deploying asystem for allocating a supply of discrete, depleting chips forobtaining desired service level characteristics, comprising: providing acomputer infrastructure being operable to: allocate a party a fixedquantity of chips for bidding on a computational resource; receive a bidfor the computational resource using an amount of the fixed quantity ofchips pursuant to a discrete event for the computational resource; anddebit the fixed quantity of chips by the amount in response to the partybeing awarded the computational resource.
 26. The method of claim 25,the bid being received pursuant to a scheduled auction for thecomputational resource, and the bid being one of a plurality of bidsreceived pursuant to the scheduled auction for the computationalresource.